[digital drifter]

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, it's well known that the
costs of essentials are spiralling upwards.  Struggling with 120 $ oil
prices, companies are trying hard to stay competitive and avoid losing
customers.  Companies are driven by the need to please shareholders by
still trying for double digit growth in these inflationary and
simultaneously recessionary times.

Well, something's going to give and it turns out to be corporate moral
fibre, if at all it existed.  Here are some sneaky things that are
happening in a supermarket near you.

1. Weight shrinkage for the same price

From ice creams to pasta, to toothpaste, check the weights of the
"usual" stuff you buy.  You'll see that the companies are trying to
hide the price rise by putting in lesser stuff for the same price.
But the packaging remains the same, in the hope you'd not notice.  
So I have in India, a random example "Brooke Bond Red Label tea 490g"

490g??? WTF.  In a metric unit country, 490g? (in the sense,
100g,200g, 250g,500g,1kg being std units for stuff like this)

Packaging AND pricing is the same as the old stock still lying in the
aisle, 500g.

The consumeristwebsite has long been tracking this sort of thing in
USA/UK/Aus stores under the headings "Grocery shrink ray hits Product X"

From the length of toilet rolls, the width of toilet rolls, to the
size of the garbage heft bags and strings, the shrink ray has hit
everything.

2. The "Consumer is stupid at math" trick.

One "free market" principle is,as the amount of stuff purchased goes
up, you'd get a reduction in the price.  So what do I see in the
aisle?

500g white oats Rs 55
800g white oats Rs 90

Take the first, it works out to be Rs 11/100g.  For 800, it's 88, not
90.

As Bill Mahler says, "new rule, new rule"

Buying in bulk?

a. Take out the cellphone calculator
b. Find out the lowest size unit price and the largest (Sam's club/Asda/Metro
size) unit price. See whether it makes sense.

3.  Changing the quality of the product

Albeit a bit more difficult, soaps, shampoos and detergent will
commonly have more "fillers" which are essentially useless but help in
reducing the amount of active ingredient of the said product.

Compare the TFM (Total Fatty Matter) of a body soap then versus now.
Usually, anything above 70% is a good soap as it's glycerine which is
the largest amount that contribute to TFM.  If the newer "NEW,
Improved" soap has a lesser TFM, then you know what happened.

Biscuits will have more soya fillers than actual wheat.  And I believe
you don't have to disclose the percentage mix other than the names of the
stuff that goes into making it.

4.  Sticking to the letter of the law in returns

Most till printing is on thermal paper or paper where the ink
vapourises in a few weeks leaving a white strip when stuff is bought.
If you really pick some stuff that is supposed to last a few months
and you intend to keep the purchase receipt, keep the Credit card
details too, if possible.  Most companies now treat consumers as
criminals, so your word about the purchase is no good even with a
blank thermal paper.

You may be a tightwad but they're anal.

5.  Sticking to products "Made from country X"

If it's at unbelievable price and its too good to be true, then stay
away.  From cheap cat food sourced from China, lead in children's
toys, your cheapness might turn out to fatal.


Stock up on essentials, from rice to canned beans, from propane tanks
to candles, to ropes for clothes lines.

And If you're American, I'm sorry, for once I'd agree with the NRA.

Guns and ammo.  And a concealed weapons permit;  maybe even a license to
fire a 155mm howitzer.  And toss in the flame thrower and the Taser.


Rest of the world are a bit civilised, they'd riot but they'd do it on
Government property.

But I digress.

[AlanD]

I hadn't realised all this stealthy stuff was going on but I'll certainly check out what I'm buying from now on.

The upfront price rises are real enough though - got a real shock at my local Asian shop a few weeks back when the 5 kilo bag of Basmati rice that I normally buy had suddenly shot up from £6.99 to £9.99! I could have bought a bag of cheaper rice but we like our Basmati. A day or so later I read on the BBC website that supermarkets in Leicester (high % of Indian origin) were rationing people to one bag of rice, as panic was setting in!

It seems beyond doubt that almost all foods are going to naturally rise in price in the coming years but it looks like this is now being driven by speculation on the futures markets and a certain amount of public panic. For those of us who have an adequate income we might just shop a little more carefully - again it's the poor in many countries that are going to be worst hit neccessitating Government action to make sure people have enough to eat.

[digital drifter]

The website is http://consumerist.com/

Don't know how things got screwed up.
http://consumerist.c...nd-honey-smacks


And you might all want to check out coupon cuttings to save some money.

Edited by digital drifter, 19 June 2008 - 09:19 PM.

[Hippie at Heart]

Price rise is here to stay and have percolated down to grass roots and most modest of consumptions. The other day I went for a street lunch at our local Chole Bathure eatery and noticed the guy first doling out the Chanas and then nipping back two small tablespoons back to his cauldron!! I asked him what the matter was as in all these years I have never seen him doing something so peculiar. He replied that by long years of practice and his calibrated serving spoon he cant help but serve the regular fix, however since all the food grains are costing dear, he has to take back 2 small spoons worth of chanas to compensate for a price rise which he should call for but is reluctant so far !!

In addition to stealth trick and questionable ethics big corporate are also not averse to make consumers ‘use’ more of their products, without they noticing such tricks. If anyone can recall from 80’s how much those old aluminium Colgate toothpaste tubes use to dispense and compare today’s plastic tube dispensing hole, they would be in a surprise. If you insist on more tech inputs, a vernier gauge will tell you the dia has increased about 14%. I think I now have brighter and shinier teeth then i use to have 20 years back

Edited by Hippie at Heart, 20 June 2008 - 12:23 AM.